Fridays in Fantasyland: Four Parks One Day

If I were at the Walt Disney World Resort today, I would be gearing up to conquer all four parks…today, all in one day.

Yep, you read that right,all four parks in one day. You know sometimes you wake up and before your feet even hit the ground you’re calculating just how many hours stand between you and returning back to bed? Then there’s other days when you rise and quite frankly just SHINE and the possibilities are limitless. Today is that kind of day for me, because dreaming of Disney World is what powers me through most workdays.

This Fantasy Friday my family awakens simultaneously IN Disney World, no one is dragging, no one is taking FOREVER in the bathroom, we are up and “at ’em” in record time today. Dreamy me and my family are staying at the Contemporary Resort and we decided to get some extra steps in and walk over to Magic Kingdom after grabbing some quick pastries and coffee at the “Contempo Cafe” on our way out. It’s a beautiful morning (and since it’s my dream I’m going to say there’s ZERO humidity) we have beaten the crowds and breezed through security. These stars aligning are perfect for our mission today of hitting all four parks before they all close at 9pm tonight. It’s Early Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom so we make a bee-line straight for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The wait just happens to be a half an hour which we all agree is worth it. My family of ride photo professionals have all the ride camera locations memorized and we make our best “sleeping” face for the camera as we fly down through the twists and turns.

Our first Fast Pass is about to kick in so we head over to Space Mountain, scan our Magic Bands and stroll through like absolute VIP rockstars. In the interest of time, we are able to convince our youngest that we need to press on and that today is not the day to ride Space Mountain back to back…to back…to back. (Hello Dramamine!) Everyone appeases me and we hop on the Peoplemover before we make our way over to Liberty Square. No Magic Kingdom visit is complete without hanging out with 999 of our spookiest pals at Haunted Mansion. We make the most of our other FastPasses by singing along with Captain Jack and cooling off with a spritzing from Splash Mountain.

We decide to take the monorail over to Epcot and use that time to grab another FastPass reservation while we enjoy the monorail resort sights, air conditioning and a break from the crowd noise while resting our feet. (Sometimes getting there is half the fun!) Our FastPass is OF COURSE for Test Track, my family of thrill seekers wouldn’t have it any other way! Even though this is MY Fantasy Friday, I have enough experience to know that the car I “build” will inevitably be the Test Track loser, but it’s a pretty car and I get kudos for my savvy sense of vehicle style. We know that we don’t have much time to spend in Epcot if we are going to complete our four park mission. After we leave Test Track we take a walk through the World Showcase just long enough so we can cool off with a refreshing bubble milk tea from “Joy of Tea” in the China Pavilion. Our stomachs are starting to fire off the first warning grumbles and we decide to take one of Epcot’s friendship boats to over to Hollywood Studios.

Toy Story Land is easily one of the best themed areas in Disney World right now, we all fell immediately in love with it when we last visited. It only makes sense that our Fantasy Friday has us making tracks directly to Toy Story Land and Woody’s Lunchbox! The brisket sandwich hits the spot and we let our lunch settle as we trash talk each other and share belly laughs while we ride Toy Story Mania. We notice that there doesn’t seem to be a long line for Slinky Dog Dash, so with happy bellies we decide that 40 minutes in the stand by line seems like a small price to pay to ride one of the most fun coasters in Disney!

We snap lots of pics around all the cool details and head over to Hollywood Boulevard. Sadly, my kids could LIVE on Hollywood Boulevard. Tower of Terror has a…13 minute wait (I love that) and we all ride together then send the girls to ride once more without us. The family heads over to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster together where me and my vintage, chic rocker kids belt out all our favorite classic Aerosmith songs while we wait in line. The girls think that Hollywood Studios has the best pin trading of all the parks, so after riding we fight each other to run up and get the best pins at every Cast Member we can find. (Which we will undoubtedly trade with each other on the bus on the way to Animal Kingdom.)

Morale is high and we are ready to tackle our last park of the day, Animal Kingdom. What was once a “half-day” park for us has become a definite favorite, and to me, nothing is more beautiful than Pandora at night. After arriving at Animal Kingdom, we say a quick hello to “Divine” as we head over to Asia to scale Mount Everest and scream at our favorite Yeti. It’s getting hotter, the afternoon Florida sun is at it’s hottest and it’s time to cool off. Kali River Rapids is calling our name, however, we want to cool off, not get soaked. Good thing we packed our “Get Down to Disness” ponchos! We are now just the right amount of wet and decide to head over to Kilimanjaro Safari. We can’t believe how ALL the animals seem to be in prime viewing positions, even the elusive lions seem to be extra cooperative today. As we make our way through Africa I grab one of the handcrafted wind chimes that I ALWAYS seem to forget whenever we are visiting the parks. (Right, don’t we all have that missed souvenir opportunity when we come home?!)

We were able to score a last minute dinner reservation at the Tusker House (the benefit of being early bird dinner eaters) and head over there to claim our table. We say feast on delicious salads, succulent chicken and try some new to us African inspired dishes before eating our weight in their delicious banana bread pudding. There’s no where better to let a meal settle than watching the ever impressive “Festival of the Lion King” show. No matter how many times we watch, each and every time our mouths are on the floor. The acrobatics, the music and the beauty of the show are astounding.

The sun is starting to set, and we head over to Pandora. The ground beneath as we cross the footbridge is now illuminated, the sounds native to the Na’vi are all around us and we just walk slowly taking it all in. Pandora is never the same place to me twice. I am always noticing new vegetation, new sounds, new sights, it’s absolutely beautiful. A Cast Member sees us standing mouths agape and offers us a bit of “pixie dust.” She hands us a FastPass for “Flight of Passage” and we take off running! Flight of Passage is one of our favorite attractions. We are typically not fans of “virtual” rides, but this is an exception. The way it completely immerses you into this other world is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. We are ecstatic when we get off, and as always we are all raving about how incredible the details of that attraction are. We take a minute to breeze through the “Windtraders” shop before we head over to catch one last ride on the Na’vi River Journey. We know that our day is winding down, the park is getting that stillness that often washes over Animal Kingdom as it nears closing time. There’s such a peace there, none of the frantic frenzy that sometimes happens at it’s sister parks. It’s a great place for this tired, accomplished family to end their epic day. We marvel at the beauty of what is now the “Tree of Life” at nighttime, the evening show is just beautiful. This has been a day well spent from top to bottom.

We drag our tired, exhausted bodies to our bus and are grateful that not many people have boarded the buses yet and we are all able to sit. We look through the pictures we’ve taken over the course of our FOUR PARK day. We talk about our “highs” and “lows’ of the day-always much harder to think of a low than a high when in Disney. We laugh about the funny things that happened to us there are always lots of those stories to tell. I can’t help but get a little misty looking at my family smiling and laughing about their day at Disney. These are incredible, priceless memories being made and I can’t wait until they continue this beautiful family tradition with their own families one day.

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I am a self professed “Disney Nerd” originally from Maryland now residing in Wake Forest, NC with my husband and two daughters. My love of Disney began in elementary school with a massive crush on Prince Phillip after seeing “Sleeping Beauty” for the first time. I traveled to WDW as a young child in the 70s but hadn’t returned until 2000 with my then college sweetheart. (Now husband, lucky dog) The love affair with the parks ignited with that trip and hasn’t slowed. We’ve taken our daughters annually as soon as they were out of diapers, and fill the time that we aren’t at the parks with helping friends book their trips, listening to Disney music and incessantly quoting Disney movie lines to each other.